While bathing and showering you should keep your pouch on until you gain confidence that you can actually do all of these things.

If you have a colostomy you will be able to get into some kind of routine where the function of your stoma will slow down and you could shower confidently without your pouch on.

With an ileostomy there is no way to predict when your stoma will function. If you would prefer to shower or bath without your pouch on you could wrap a tissue around your stoma before and after to catch any output coming out. It is worth noting that the warm water will stimulate the bowel to function.

There is nothing to stop you going swimming, it is a great way to keep fit and maintain good energy levels.

For the ladies, If you don’t feel comfortable wearing a bikini, you could wear a patterned 1 piece bathing costume to disguise the shape of the tummy or an ostomy swim wrap.

For the men, you could wear high waisted swim shorts. You could even try lycra cycling shorts which would tightly hold the pouch in place with your swimming shorts over the top.

If you enjoy swimming absolutely do it, just ensure you towel dry your pouch or even use a hair dryer to dry it after your swim.

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